Have you heard the phrase “let’s form a posse?" According to Merriam-Webster, “Posse comitatus referred to a group of citizens summoned by a reeve (a medieval official) or sheriff to preserve the public peace as allowed for by law.” Today, posse can mean any group acting together for some shared purpose.
A best practice for nominating SPE members for awards is to form a nomination posse. A committee of 4 to 5 people work to match the candidates with the award which best suits them. Your posse may be a subcommittee within an SPE leadership team, such as a geographic section or a technical section. You may share a common alma mater, employer, or country.
Fifteen years ago, I joined an awards posse including Janeen Judah, 2017 SPE President, Eve Sprunt, 2006 SPE President, and several others to address the lack of women nominees in the awards process. Rather than complain, we agreed to form a posse to be the change we wanted to see.
A posse provides the benefit of mutual accountability to complete the nomination, and it is helpful for brainstorming deserving people and matching them with the appropriate award.
If you’re asking, “What’s in it for me?,” you might find this axiom to be true: “Leaders lift while climbing.” Providing respect and recognition for your colleagues is a wonderful way to find purpose in your own career.
The SPE nomination process starts in the fourth quarter of the year, after the current years’ international recipients have been recognized at the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE). Schedule a meeting for your posse to review the SPE Awards resources on the SPE website. Familiarize your group with the awards at the section, regional, and international level. Each level has slightly different timelines, but the process starts in the fourth quarter prior and is completed in the first quarter of the year in which the award is to be presented.
As your awards posse considers potential candidates for each award, review the list of awards recipients from previous years at the international and regional levels to avoid duplication and to understand the impact of technical/service contribution expected for a successful nomination. If a nominee receives an award at the regional level, they often progress to become candidates at the international level in a similar category, pending the corresponding SPE regional director’s review of their regional nomination.
Once your posse has paired up potential candidates with awards, match members of your posse to contact each candidate to launch the nomination process. Contact the SPE member to confirm they are willing to be nominated for an award. Request their resume, their publications list, their record of SPE volunteer service, and a list of colleagues whom you can contact to request their letters of support. Contact the references to write letters of support for the nomination, providing ample time before the submission deadlines.
Nomination Schedule for 2025 Awards
- 18 September 2024 | International and Regional Nominations Open
- 15 February 2025 | International Nominations Close
- 25 February 2025 | CV/Resume or LinkedIn Profile & Supporting Letter(s) Due—International
- 1 March 2025 | Regional Nominations Close
- 10 March 2025| CV/Resume or LinkedIn Profile and Supporting Letter(s) Due—Regional
Schedule meetings for your awards posse during the awards season to track your progress in your collective nominations. The awards selection process is extremely competitive, so not all nominations are successful in the first attempt. Once the award recipients are announced, some of your candidates will not have been selected, so you can work together to adjust your strategy in nominating them again.
For the candidates who are selected, enjoy sharing in their celebrations! Truly celebrate award recipients at any level—section, regional, or international. Section and regional award recipients are celebrated at local section awards ceremonies, regional meetings, or events. International awards recipients are honored during the SPE Awards Banquet at ATCE.
It’s personally rewarding to receive an email with subject line “Oh my goodness” when a candidate that you have nominated for the second or third time informs you that they have finally been selected to receive the honor, and you respond, “Well deserved!”
C. Susan Howes, PE, PHR, is president at Subsurface Consultants & Associates LLC (SCA) where she is responsible for all facets of the company’s consulting, recruitment, and training services business including maintaining the highest technical quality standards. Howes’ prior experience includes roles of increasing responsibility at Anadarko and Chevron in reservoir engineering, business development, corporate engineering, HR, organizational capability, and reservoir management. She is recognized as an industry leader in petro-technical talent attraction, development, and retention. She has coauthored papers and articles on the topics of ethics, uncertainty management, risk management, and talent management.
Howes holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from The University of Texas (UT). She chairs the 2024 Program Committee for SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), chairs the SPE Awards and Recognition Committee, and serves as past-chair of the SPE Management Technical Section.
Howes received the SPE DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal, is an Honorary Member of SPE, and served as a 2019–2020 SPE Distinguished Lecturer. She has served on the Industry Advisory Board, Petroleum Engineering Department at Montana Tech; on the External Advisory Committee, Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at UT; and on the Program Advisory Board, Petroleum Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines.
She is on the Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council Board of Directors and chairs the Society of Women Engineers—Houston Area (SWE-HA) Awards Committee. Howes received the 2020 Woman of Excellence award from the Federation of Houston Professional Women and the 2024 SWE-HA Volunteer of the Year Award.